This invention relates generally to a machine for severing standing crops from the ground to initiate a harvesting process and, more particularly, to a mower conditioner incorporating a rotary disc cutterbar having a preselected number of transversely oriented cutter modules having rotatable discs supported thereon and carrying knives to sever standing crop by an impact action and convey the severed crop to a conditioning mechanism before being discharged to the ground.
Disc cutterbars have been utilized in agricultural harvesting implements for many years. Each disc cutterbar includes a plurality of transversely spaced disc cutters driven for rotation about a generally vertical axis. Each disc cutter has two or three knives pivotally mounted on the periphery thereof to sever standing crop from the ground through an impact action. For background information on the structure and operation of disc cutterbars, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,262, issued to E. E. Koch and F. F. Voler, the descriptive portions thereof being incorporated herein by reference.
The construction of disc cutterbars has evolved over the years to the configuration of having a modular construction with cutter modules and spacer modules, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,019, issued to L. J. Pingry, the descriptive portions of which are incorporated herein by reference. In some instances, the cutter modules and the spacer modules were integrally formed into one unit such as shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,629, issued to R. Ermacora and H. Neuerburg.
When cutting certain crops or under certain crop conditions, for example, tall and/or entangled crops or long viney crops, with a disc mower conditioner, a device is needed to guide the crop into the cutterbar knives so that the crop is cut cleanly instead of being pushed ahead of the machine, or being caught and pulled into the conditioning rolls without being cut by the rotating knives. Without an effective crop divider, such crops or crop conditions will cause a poor cutting of the crop, create a re-cutting of the crop, and/or plugging the machine. If the crop is not cut, but instead is pulled into the conditioning rolls, the power to the rolls increases significantly. The tractor engine RPM drops and the torque on the driveline components increases, and the lugs on the conditioning rolls wear. In addition, viney crop can wrap around the rolls if the vines are not cut.